€600,000 Council funds to be spent in Cootehill

There is good news this week for Cootehill with the announcement by the Town Manager, Joe McLoughlin, that €600,000 in the account of Cootehill Town Council will be spent on projects in the town. This money is an accumulation of capital receipts and housing. One €300,000 has been derived from the sale of Council houses over the years and the other €300,000 was accumulated from the sale of property to the Health Board some years ago.

Mr McLoughlin explained to councillors at their March monthly meeting that, in relation to the money derived from the sale of property to the HSE, there is no issue with the spending of that money. “There are commitments you have already entered into as a Town Council in relation to the back road and the purchase of the Gallagher building, which will absorb quite a significant portion of that money. With the money that is left, we can look at other particular projects.”

He further explained that the remaining €300,000, from the sales of houses, can be used for housing-related purposes, subject to the sanction of the Department of the Environment. “In that context, our housing people have done some work on a few projects,” said Mr McLoughlin. Housing schemes that will be earmarked for enhancement schemes include Drumnaveil, Griffith Park and New Line. “We are trying to find projects that the Department will agree to and that submission will be made shortly. Back access routes, footpaths and fences will form part of the projects,” he said. The estimated cost is around €120,000. The New line works will also from part of this submission.

When asked by Cllr John Martin (SF) what if the Department says that the money can’t be used for these projects, Mr McLoughlin said: “Let’s not look at the possibility of being negative towards it. Ultimately this is public funds. I think if we make a case as presented, I would hope that there would be a good chance of them sanctioning it.” After some detailed discussion, the chairman Harry McCabe argued that the New Line project should take priority over the back road project and that the Town Council had never indicated that any funding should be spent on the latter works.

Joe McLoughlin said that the consultants’ costs for the future development of the back road project has to be paid out of the fund as well. He said there would still be a residual amount left for further aspects of the Back Road or for the New Line.Fianna Fáil’s Michael McCarey asked if they could apply for funding from other schemes for these projects. He pointed out that the fact that the feasibility study had been carried out on the back road, should “leave us in a strong position to draw down those kind of funds”.

Cllr Vincent McCaul (FG) stressed that a strong case has to be made that funding is required in Cootehill. He agreed that priority should be given to widening the New Line road. Cllr McCabe asked when they could expect word back in relation to the funding and the New Line. “Will it be done before we go out of office?” Joe McLoughlin said he is hoping to make the case to the Department next week in relation to the projects concerned, but he can’t predict their timeframe for coming back on the matter.

Cllr Sean Igoe noted that out of the €300,000 set aside for works on housing, which had been earlier reckoned would cost around €120,000, would leave around €180,000 left over for the work you are talking about and would be more than adequate to do those works. Mr McLoughlin said that anything the Council might be able to do on footpaths this year, might emanate from the submission that is being made to the Department. “Failing that, we might be able to look at the position of footpaths over a period of two or three years.”
Cllr McCabe said he would like to see a commitment before the councillors leave office “that the main footpaths will be done”. He was supported by Cllrs Vincent McCaul and Aidan Boyle on this.

Consultants’ proposals ready for display

Meanwhile, the executive engineer, Kevin Smith, said the consultants have their proposals in relation to the 'Back Road’ ready for display. He told the elected members that he will now confirm with the consultants as to when that display to the public can take place. He was of the opinion that it would more than likely happen within the next four to six weeks.